Up and Under

After a rest during the holiday season, Up and Under is back for 2022. Up and Under is a weekly exclusive on Americas Rugby News. It covers the best and worst from games involving the Americas players and teams over the previous week.

 

UP

USA Women’s Eagles Conquer Málaga
The Women’s Eagles were crowned champions at the World Sevens Series event in Málaga, capping an undefeated run with a dominant win over Russia in the Cup Final. Ilona Maher earned Player of the Final honors. Along the way the USA recorded wins over Canada, Poland, England, and France. It’s their first circuit win of the season and puts them in 4th place overall with three tournaments to go.

Los Pumas win Silver in Málaga
Argentina’s excellent season of Rugby Sevens continues. Los Pumas won Silver at Málaga this past weekend. They did so by rebounding from a 24-17 loss against the USA in pool play. Other results were wins over Jamaica and Spain by scoreline of 31-7 and 40-12. Argentina powered past Ireland and England to reach the final against South Africa. Los Pumas were in front during the final and were tied with time up. Earlier a 50-50 went against Argentina to rule out a try while the win came after a 50-50 penalty was awarded to South Africa.

Uruguay’s First overseas Women’s Players
History was made this past week as Uruguayan players María Eugenia Cruces and Cecilia Verocai became the first professional women’s players from the country. They have signed contracts to play in Italy. They will do so for one of the country’s finest rugby clubs, Calvisano. It is monumental for Uruguay and for South America, a continent whose best Men’s and Women’s teams differ notably.

Argentine Referee Flavor for MLR
The 2022 Major League Rugby season will have Argentina flavor on the field. The majority of the MLR teams have Argentine players on their rosters. The new MLR season will also have Argentina flavor in terms of referees; Damián Schneider will officiate MLR matches in the 2022 season. The 28-year-old from Rosario will feature in the opening five rounds of MLR 2022. The season opens on February 5.

Emiliano Bergamaschi becomes head coach in an elite league
Emiliano Bergamaschi is now in charge of Zebre Parma. The Argentine took over a team in bad need of finding their feet. His contract is for the remainder of the 2021-2022 season. Bergamaschi was an assistant coach to Daniel Hourcade with Los Pumas at RWC 2015. In the 2020 SLAR he was an assistant to Raúl Pérez at the Olímpia Lions. In 2021 he was the head coach of Os Cobras, Brazil’s team in the 2021 Súper Liga Americana de Rugby.

Americas notably present in European Champions Cup round-of-16
The European Champions Cup round-of-16 will be played in April. It will feature Americas players; but, the question is how many exactly? Argentine players whose teams are in the final 16 are Facundo Bosch, Julián Montoya, Santiago García Botta, Ramiro Herrera, Joel Sclavi, Marcos Kremer, Tomás Lavanini, Guido Petti, Santiago Grondona, Nicolás Sánchez, Santiago Chocobares, Juan Cruz Mallía, Matías Moroni Santiago Cordero, Facundo Cordero, and Juan Imhoff. The USA may be represented by David Ainu’u, Titi Lamositele, and AJ MacGinty. Eagles-eligible flanker Tomiwa Agbongbon plays for Leicester.

 

UNDER

Colombia at a disadvantage in Women’s RWC Qualifiers as Scotland get handed a bye
Colombia’s upcoming RWC qualifiers have been impacted. Hong Kong and Samoa will miss the upcoming tournaments to determine who will compete at the 2022 Women’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. The changes mean Kazakhstan join Colombia and Scotland. The tournament will involve three teams rather than the intended four with Scotland playing against the winner of Colombia vs Kazakhstan. The decision is based on rankings. The winner of Scotland vs Colombia / Kazakhstan will qualify for the Women’s World Cup.

Sour winless tournament for Brazil
Málaga was not a good tournament for As Yaras. Brazil’s Women’s team finished 11th out of 12 at the event in Spain. They finished higher than Fiji who pulled out of the tournament. In other words, Brazil was the bottom placed team at Málaga. Brazil were winless; As Yaras suffered losses against Belgium, England, France and Russia.

Santiago Álvarez and Gastón Revol missing in action from the Silver Medals
Los Pumas captain Santiago Álvarez and former skipper Gastón Revol missed the Málaga Sevens due to Covid-19 isolation protocols. It saw Argentina without two players and a lack of reserves for this past weekend’s tournament. Felipe del Mestre filled in as captain in a tournament in which the South Americans were denied Gold Medals with time up in the final.

Guido Petti watches on until March
Guido Petti is sidelined until March. Bordeaux are monitoring their Argentine second-rower who has a minor knee injury. It is not all bad news as he will have a needed rest; no global season has seen many Pumas playing for club and country for over 12 months. Argentina’s next test match will be in July. Los Pumas are to play host to Scotland in three matches. Petti is expected to not only feature but to start.

Two MLR teams are without a Head Coach
With just two weeks to go until the regular season begins, two Major League Rugby clubs are suddenly without a Head Coach. Scott Lawrence stepped down from his Rugby ATL post after a disagreement with new ownership, a severe blow to the Eastern Conference champions. Meanwhile Dallas are once again in a pickle with extreme visa delays bringing a premature end to Michael Hodge‘s extremely short tenure. Both organizations say the hunt is underway for replacements.

SaberCats fumble preseason plans
Houston fans were left fuming on Saturday evening when a planned preseason run-out against Dallas turned out to be an opposed practice. The SaberCats had advertised the event as a game and went so far as to charge for admission and parking. A live stream also fizzled with technical difficulties. For an organization that desperately needs to turn itself around after a long stretch of poor results, this is not a good start to their rebuilding plans. The Cats would be well advised to make this up to the faithful somehow.